September 03, 2013

Pelosi, other Democrats urge support of Syrian resolution

House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. told reporters after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House that she supports his plan for military intervention, but that the
American people need to hear more about the intelligence that supports the
action.

"There's
work to be done. But it’s not a question of whipping, it’s a question of
discussing with our members, hearing their views," Pelosi said. "And some won’t ever be
comfortable with it – I myself, from the humanitarian standpoint think that
waiting for the U.N. and waiting for Putin – the slowest ship in the convoy of
reacting to the use of weapons of, of the chemical weapons by Assad – is a
luxury that we cannot afford."

Pelosi said
she does not think Congress will vote down the measure down, but she said she does
not think congressional authorization is necessary. "I do think it’s a
good thing," she said. "And I hope that we can achieve it."

Other Democrats agreed that Congress should support the use of force.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged from the meeting saying she was "fully supportive of the president's action."

"We must
do something. If we do nothing now and allow this to go on, it sends a message
that chemical weapons then can be used," said Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. "That will affect the world. That will
affect people in the region. Our allies. And that will affect us in the United
States of America."

"Let
me say very, very strongly I think it's important that we support the
president," Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. "I think it's important that it's bipartisan. I hope we have heavy
votes in both the House and the Senate...If we
didn't respond in kind, it was sending message to every despot, every thug,
every dictator, every terrorist group in the world that you can commit war
crimes and murder your own citizens with impunity and nothing is going to
happen."

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Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. "...If we didn't respond in kind, it was sending message to every despot, every thug, every dictator, every terrorist group in the world that you can commit war crimes and murder your own citizens with impunity and nothing is going to happen."

George Bush is by his own public admission a war criminal. Barack Obama murdered US citizens with impunity. So until you fix those things, don't come crying the blues about other nations.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Jerusalem: "...If we didn't respond in kind, it was sending message to every despot, every thug, every dictator, every terrorist group in the world that you can commit war crimes and murder your own citizens with impunity and nothing is going to happen."

Which would be fine, Engel, except when Donald Rumsfeld and our CIA enabled, aided, and abetted Saddam Hussein in his chemical attacks on Iran, there was no such outrage.